Liberal Democracy and Peace in South Africa The Pursuit of Freedom as Dignity [Paperback]

South Africa's transition to democracy was met by the global audience with at first, disbelief, followed later by applause. After fifteen years of democracy big questions remain: has a more democratic regime also lead to a more liberal society? And has democracy made for a more peaceful society?Democratization, Liberalization and Pacification The State as Guardian? Society in Transition: An Overview Interpersonal Relations: Trust, Tolerance and Gender Religion, Evil and Liberalization Outsiders

Liberal Democracy and Peace in South Africa provides an extensive analysis of the evolution of elite and public attitudes toward liberal values of trust, tolerance, and respect for state authority to assess the extent to which leadership and broader social change has accompanied the formal, legal, and institutional transition to a democratic system in South Africa. In richly detailed empirical analysis, carefully set in leading theories of democratization and researched with impressive precision, du Toit and Kotz? reveal that for urban poor South Africans, especially, unless economic and social change can yield more profound dignity, the process of democratization remains very much incomplete. In sum, this book combines a compelling argument with rigorous research to tap into the challenges of democracy s consolidation in post-apartheid South Africa, a county which is a critical test case for theories of democratization overall. - Timothy D. Sisk, Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development and International Peace, Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver

South Africa s transition to democracy has been one of the most dramatic and has shown many skeptics to be wrong. This book by two of the continent s leading political scientists paints a realistic picture of recent developments based on general population and elite surveys extending over more than two decades. It shows some of the achievements in creatinglƒÔ